Kamen Rider
by The Song Of The Wolves
Summary: (Kamen Rider Fourze) Tomoko thinks about the Kamen Riders in her life, and in particular, one named Meteor.


**Kamen Rider**

* * *

Tomoko had always been fascinated by the stories of the Kamen Riders. The gallant warriors who fought against evil. The courageous heroes who risked their lives to save the world. She had grown up reading about them, combing the Internet for information, hoping and hoping that maybe one day she would be able to actually meet a Kamen Rider. When she was much younger, the stories of the Kamen Riders had gotten her through lonely nights dreading the next day because sometimes, it was just so exhausting to avoid the popular girls who loved making fun of her and to ignore all the thoughts she could vaguely sense around her, about her. As she'd grown up, she'd learned to just stay away from people entirely, and thus relied on the Kamen Riders for comfort less and less, but they were still an essential part of her life.

It had been so many years since the last sightings of Kamen Riders that many people, even those who'd once believed wholeheartedly in their existence, were beginning to wonder if they had ever been any more than urban legends. But not Tomoko. There was never any doubt in her heart that her heroes were real. She had been so excited when the newspaper articles about a new Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider W, had started appearing. Kamen Rider W didn't look like the Kamen Riders she'd seen before, but the heroic qualities she remembered were all obvious. Kamen Rider W had saved an entire city. It was amazing.

Then she'd met Gentaro. She'd known he was special from the start. He was different from the other students in Amanogawa High. Interesting. That was why she had helped him. He was abnormal, but in a different way from her. Tomoko was a freak. Gentaro was a person who wasn't afraid to challenge social norms.

Gentaro had transformed into a Kamen Rider.

And her thoughts had been so incoherent and the only thing she could think was Kamen Rider Kamen Rider KamenRiderKamenRiderKamenRider…her dream had come true. She had finally met a Kamen Rider.

Gentaro was nothing like the Kamen Riders she'd read about, but at the same time, he was just like them. He was a friendship-obsessed teenage boy who got terrible results and wasn't completely serious about anything most of the time. But he was brave. He cared about people. He would do everything he could to protect people. And beyond anything, that proved that he was a true Kamen Rider.

Gentaro had shown her that it was okay for her to be herself. That there were people who could accept her. That there was a place she could belong. The Kamen Rider had become her saviour, and the Kamen Rider Club had become her home.

A while after she'd joined the Kamen Rider Club, another Kamen Rider had appeared.

Kamen Rider Meteor.

He was a mystery to them. They had no clue who he was, or what he wanted. She'd called him a Kamen Rider at first - he had helped Gentaro to defeat the Zodiart, then disappeared as quickly and surprisingly as he'd arrived.

The next time she met him, she changed her mind. He had protected a Zodiart and attacked Gentaro. She'd been so furious, not thinking clearly, that she'd just recklessly run out and started screaming at him. Her mind had been screaming that what he was doing was wrongwrongwrongwrongwrong. The Kamen Riders had been her source of hope and strength for so long, she wasn't going to let him ruin their name.

And he hadn't been hostile, not exactly.

_"But who's to say that your idea of justice is the same as mine?"_

…A little angry, a little sad. Not regretful about his actions. Proud.

Was he a Kamen Rider? She hadn't been sure.

But then he'd stopped attacking them, had started helping them to defeat the Zodiarts. And he'd saved her, again and again. She would always remember that time with Cygnus, when he hadn't been able to kill her. She'd been afraid, because really, she didn't understand Meteor, and he'd come so close to blasting her head off and she'd been terrified that he would actually do it, would actually prove once and for all that no, he was not a Kamen Rider and never would be. But he'd stopped. And then he'd gotten hurt because of her. Because she hadn't been able to defend herself.

She'd tried to find him after that, tried many times, but she couldn't figure out anything. Her senses kept telling her that Meteor was near, very near, but that was impossible. Meteor remained a mystery. A masked knight in shining armour.

So, she still didn't know who he was, and what he really wanted, or anything much about him at all, but she was sure of at least one thing, and it was what was most important anyway.

Meteor truly was a Kamen Rider.


End file.
